The derelict ship RV Farley Mowat sitting at the wharf at Shelburne, Nova Scotia after being stripped for scrap.
RV Farley Mowat was a long-range, ice class ship. Originally built as a Norwegian fisheries research and enforcement vessel, she was purchased by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, in August 1996. She is named after Canadian writer Farley Mowat. Her previous name with the group was Ocean Warrior. She was the flagship of Sea Shepherd's fleet until seized by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans off the coast of Newfoundland in April 2008. She was sold for C$5,000 by court order in November 2009, to Green Ship LLC, a company headquartered in Oregon. During 2010 she was moored in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, undergoing refit for operation as an expedition vessel for research in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, by 2011 the ship was on the market again, to cover unpaid docking fees, and was eventually sold in March 2013. The vessel, stripped of her superstructure having been purchased for scrap, sank at her berth in Canada in June 2015. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society used the vessel to monitor international waters for violations of international fisheries agreements. Farley Mowat officially began her career in the waters off Costa Rica, immersed in controversy over policing actions against illegal fishing activities. In March and April 2008, Farley Mowat was involved in controversy related to the 2008 Canadian commercial seal hunt. On 12 April 2008, Fisheries and Oceans Canada seized Farley Mowat in the Cabot Strait after the ship came near the seal hunt without an observation permit and two collisions with a coast guard vessel occurred. During the raid, the captain and first officer were arrested and later charged for the incident. While seized, Farley Mowat was held by Fisheries and Oceans Canada at Sydney, Nova Scotia until put up for sale. The location of the ship at the time of the seizure is controversial. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims the ship was seized illegally.
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Photo credit: © gary corbett / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: canada, conservation, derelict, farley, green, hunt, mowat, nova, peace, rv, scotia, scrap, sea, seal, seizure, shelburne, shepherd, ship, society, stripped, vessel, wharf
